Nel, Everyone, I am sure, very much appreciates what you have done to start this project and bring it to where it is today. I know that I do. I would like to suggest that maybe someone from the list would be interested in joining as a co-administrator for the specific purpose of communicating with the list what is being found and what family lines need additional members. Hall is one of the largest surnames in America and throughout the English speaking world. In some respects, you almost need specific helpers who can focus on specific groups of Hall families -- not just a single family -- and try to get a handle on those families. I think that the project has a good start, and what we are seeing is the basis for years of research. I would hope that the members would feel safe in communicating on list when they get a result to understand what it means and what they should do next in their research. This is no different that when you discover a new paper trail source that gives you a result you do not understand and would like help interpreting it. As a follow-up to Roberta's note, I do think that discussion of DNA findings, both positive and negative is worthwhile on this list. If you find that your Hall family seems to have a STRONG ( close 37 or 67 marker match) match to some other family, then we would like to hear about it. It could be that someone else on this list may have a clue as to why that happened. Yes, it could be an NPE (non-paternity event). DNA just discovered in my Stedman project that two large Stedman families that were thought to be part of a large Scottish family were actually not. It is generating a lot of new interest in the DNA because many people's assumptions of their ancestry is proving wrong. As we learn more about DNA, we learn how powerful it can be. ... as Roberta and Cheryl found out. (BTW, if you want to consult off-list on this unexpected match, just write...) john. At 12:16 PM 1/25/2009, nelhatch wrote: >John, > >Let me say that while I do have communications with our DNA testers, >most of them are private (thru the FTDNA site) and concern questions >regarding the test itself or just general information re: DNA. > >Since it's not possible for me to know the families of all of our >172 Hall testers, this list is still the best place to pose family >type questions. Another factor in our testing is that a very high >percentage of our testers simply do not match to any of the other >Hall testers. If they match to non-Hall testers, I must assume they >will or do pursue these leads outside this list. > >And one final note.....because of serious time constraints, I am >looking for anyone who would be interested in assuming the duties of >Group Administrator for our Hall DNA project. While I have no >problem performing the basic responsibilities of GA, I do know that >were I to have additional time, I could be of much more assistance >to testers than I am. Please let me know if you are interested. > >Cheers, >Nel